Social problems in English-speaking countries

In Europe, immigrant groups have never received such attention. The immigration tide triggered by the influx of a large number of immigrants into Europe has not only promoted and stimulated the economic development in Europe, but also caused serious social problems, the so-called "immigration problem". French President Nicolas Sarkozy said recently that during his term of office, France will not completely legalize illegal immigrants because this method cannot achieve the effect of reducing illegal immigrants.

The main motivation for immigrants to move to Europe alone or with their families is to seek a more stable and happy life. Many of them come from areas with few employment opportunities and low wages. For example, Italian immigrants mainly come from Morocco, Albania and other countries. Turks, Arabs and Indonesians are the largest immigrant groups in Germany, France and the Netherlands respectively. High-tech talents usually come from the northern part of Eurasia, and ordinary workers mainly come from East Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa.

The influx of immigrants has slowed down the trend of aging population in Europe to some extent and made up for the shortage of labor force in European countries. They have made great contributions to the economic development and technological progress of European society in different fields. In addition, immigrants from all over the world also brought local cultural customs, which not only injected fresh blood into modern European civilization, but also provided a new concept of inter-ethnic relations for European society. It can be said that the prosperity of Europe is inseparable from the contribution of immigrants.

In recent years, with the influx of immigrants, Europe's economic recovery has been weak, and the feelings of worrying about the negative effects of immigrants have gradually spread throughout Europe, and extreme words and deeds against immigrants have appeared from time to time. Some people think that immigrants have seized their employment opportunities and social welfare, causing social security problems. The reason is that the high resettlement cost has become a heavy burden for European governments, and some original social welfare programs have been cancelled. Rent and house price rise with the increase of demand, and the surge of employment has caused a sharp rise in unemployment rate.

In this context, after institutionalized racism was abolished for many years, "mass racism" quietly appeared. Some racist language prevails in popular culture and public places, and bad incidents of beating and insulting people of color also occur from time to time. At the same time, the ultra-right forces became active, and "excluding immigrants" became the campaign slogan of right-wing parties.

But the reality is that Europe cannot completely shut out immigrants. Global population migration is an indispensable communication for human beings, and any measures to stop this development momentum are undoubtedly irrational mistakes of the times. Most European countries have accepted their reality as immigrant countries and multi-ethnic societies.

The immigration policy of European countries has two basic contents: first, how to deal with the requirements of people who want to become immigrants, including border control, accepting or rejecting foreigners and other moral issues; The second is how to deal with the requirements of illegal immigrants, including repatriation, acceptance and other means. In recent years, EU member states have begun to reduce the use of repressive and preventive immigration policies, and are committed to coordinating the relationship between the individual wishes of immigrants and the goals of social institutions, and strive to integrate immigrants into the current social system. While raising the immigration threshold, encouraging new immigrants to integrate into the mainstream society has become the same point in the current immigration policies of European countries. For example, in 2007, the French government announced a bill on strengthening immigration management and encouraging new immigrants to integrate into France. In addition, the process of European integration has also promoted the settlement of the immigration problem. At present, encouraging population migration within the EU has become one of the strategies to promote economic development and social progress in the EU. (Liu Hong)

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